How to make your holiday home fit for the competition.
Standstill is regression. If you want to rent out and market your holiday home, you have to stay on the ball and keep up with the times. We have a few small but fine tips on how to make your holiday home fit for the competition and increase the chances of maximum occupancy.
GIVE YOUR GUESTS A FRIENDLY WELCOME
Of course a warm and friendly welcome of the holiday guests belongs to the good first impression. If you don’t have a reception or staff, you have to do it yourself. This also applies if you are not necessarily one of the most sociable people. A friendly smile, a nice greeting and help carrying your luggage are a matter of course nowadays.
If you are more of a sociable type, then offer your guests something to drink, ask them if they had a good journey and ask them about their plans for the holiday without being pushy. Those who often have guests will quickly notice who prefers peace and quiet and who are happy about a small but fine small talk. Just press the key in your hand, lead through the apartment and wish a nice holiday, bored, leaves no lasting impression that encourages you to come back or recommend.
To be honest: what does a cold bottle of sparkling wine, mineral water or a bouquet of fresh flowers cost? Who arrives in the evening with the car in a remote holiday house, is not necessarily keen on looking for a gas station, in order to cover itself for the first evening in the vacation with the most necessary. Make sure that there are at least a few little things at the start in case of need.
A few apples from your own garden, a taste of regional specialities or a few candles for cosy and romantic hours can also ensure lasting satisfaction. Everybody has been to a holiday apartment that hasn’t necessarily
Because the host is always there to help and advise you when you need something, because there is always a bottle of homemade cider on the decorated living room table or because he always has insider tips for an exciting trip.
ONLY A CLEAN HOLIDAY APARTMENT IS A BEAUTIFUL HOLIDAY APARTMENT
Yes, first impressions count! And to the first impression when entering a vacation home belongs at the top of the list the topic cleanliness. If you are looking forward to a holiday home with your family and a pleasant stay in a comfortable private accommodation, you will of course also want a hygienic bathroom, a clean kitchen and a made-up bed. Of course, this is not always easy.
Especially during the high season, when the guests of a holiday home are changing hands, it is not always easy for landlords to maintain a constant standard. Nevertheless, there should be no compromise when it comes to cleanliness. So if, contrary to expectations, the next guests arrive a few hours earlier and ask if they are allowed to move into the apartment or holiday home, they kindly point out to them that, for their sake too, you cannot deviate from their standards.
Even guests who claim that it doesn’t have to be clinically clean just to be able to unpack a few hours earlier are sometimes a little disappointed or dissatisfied in the end, because dust, crumbs or stains that they themselves have removed have disturbed things here and there.
So it’s better to stay hard, friendly and point out that a thoroughly cleaned accommodation is a sign of a recommendable holiday apartment for them and get to work or have it done. If you leave the cleaning of your holiday home to another person or to a cleaning lady, take a look to see if everything has been done. We recommend a short checklist to check off – this way nothing is forgotten and nobody can claim that they didn’t have it on their screen.
DON’T SAVE AT THE WRONG END
No, less isn’t always more. Especially when it comes to equipping a holiday home for paying guests. Everyone knows them, the holiday apartments, which are disfigured with a conglomeration of worn inventory, which are no longer needed in their own apartment or which have been discarded due to heavy wear and tear.
Of course, you can’t always buy or replace everything, but you don’t have to give your guests the feeling of living in an antiquarian bookshop or in the midst of the remnants of a household resolution. Every holiday home is ultimately a total work of art, which should radiate cosiness, warmth and comfort.
Of course, you don’t have to cling to a particular furnishing style from the bedroom to the kitchen or buy expensive designer furniture. Nevertheless, you should make sure that each room is properly furnished and the furnishings are in an appropriate condition.
Those who take a little time, e.g. look around at eBay classified ads for well-preserved & inexpensive furnishings or invest in a few decorative items at Ikea, can set great accents for little money that turn a simple accommodation into a small holiday paradise. And if a comfortable sofa or an antique reading chair is worn out here and there, a new edition or a matching cover can quickly help.
And if the holiday home is upgraded by improvements or new equipment such as a flat screen TV & DVD player for rainy days or an air conditioner instead of a fan, it can be rented more easily or possibly at a higher price. How important the Internet and WLAN reception are, should be meanwhile sufficiently well-known…
MAKE SURE YOUR GUESTS SLEEP AS WELL AS POSSIBLE
“The bed is medicine,” they say in Italy. And the Italians are absolutely right! Even the most beautiful holiday home is not worth its money if the bed is creaking, the mattress is lying through or the slatted frame cannot be adjusted softer or harder.
Anyone who has ever been driven from an unbearably uncomfortable bed to the couch knows how to sing a song about it. And unslept guests are dissatisfied guests. And it has also happened before that holiday home vacationers who, like so many others, suffer from back problems, have left a beautiful holiday home in a hurry to the hotel because they have not found peace.
Of course, you can’t please everyone, but you can make sure that the bed can be adapted to different needs with a well-thought-out combination of adjustable slatted frame and mattress.
A popular and simple solution that we could observe and enjoy in many holiday flats were two thin mattresses (e.g. two Ikea Sultan mattresses) on top of each other or a normal mattress in combination with a slightly thicker mattress topper. So the degree of hardness can be corrected also with fuller guests accordingly, by supplementing or removing a mattress or edition.
Ask your guests about their preferences and help them to adjust the degree of hardness of the slatted frame accordingly. You will certainly thank them for it. And positive reviews in which guests rave that they slept like a baby are certainly not a disadvantage 😉
